Tulane extends Willie Fritz through 2027

Tulane may be only one game in to their 2020 season but they just made a huge move that will keep head coach Willie Fritz with the team for the foreseeable future.

The 60-year old Fritz, now in his fifth year with the Wave, confirmed reports on Monday that he was indeed awarded a seven-year extension by the university. This means that Tulane will have him at least through the 2027 season. Prior to the announcement, his contract was set to expire in 2023.

“I’m fired up,” Fritz told Nola.com.“My wife and I are excited about it. We love New Orleans. We love Tulane. It’s a great school. We have a great group of young men playing for us. I think the future is extremely bright.”

The future does indeed seem to be bright for the Green Wave program. In his first four seasons calling the shots in New Orleans, Fritz has accumulated an overall record of 24-27 (12-20 AAC) and has guided Tulane to back-to-back bowl wins in 2018 and 2019, the first time in school history the program has achieved such a feat.

If the team can muster up a winning record this year, Fritz will become the first Green Wave head coach to post three consecutive winning seasons since Henry Frnka did so from 1948 to 1950.

Furthermore, many believe that this year’s recruiting class has been one of the Wave’s best in quite sometime. Fritz and his staff have proven to be very effective in nabbing high school and collegiate talent from all ranks including JuCo to P5.

Tulane is the fourth college program in which Fritz has served as a head coach with his prior jobs coming at Central Missouri (DII), Sam Houston State (FCS) and Georgia Southern respectively. Monday’s announcement, however, ensures that he will not be on the coaching market again anytime soon.